10 Historic Facts about Henry Ford

If you love Ford trucks, then you've gotta love Henry Ford, the man whose name they wear. Henry Ford changed the world with his innovations and great business mind, here are 10 historic facts about the legendary man.

By Bassem Girgis - February 21, 2017

1. A Love for Watches

Henry Ford has always been an innovator, and at a young age, he had a unique love for mechanical watches. Ford used to fix all of his friends and family's watches, but he didn't use jeweler's tools, instead, he created his own. By filing a shingle nail he was able to make a tiny screwdriver. Using the spring wire from a corset, he created tweezers.

2. Not a Politician

President Woodrow Wilson tried to persuade Henry Ford to run for Senate in 1918, but Ford sent the President a polite letter declining. Henry's letter told the president that if they him elected, they would have to do it themselves, because he wasn't willing to invest a penny in it. Ford did end up running without a campaign, but he narrowly lost by 4,500 votes.

3. The Redstone School House

Henry Ford believed in preserving history and historic American building, eventually creating Greenfield Village for that purpose. An earlier attempt was made in Sudbury, MA where Henry bought and had moved there the Redstone School House, which was the school house that inspired the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb". A local girl named Mary in 1930 actually brought her pet lamb to school, and it caused a commotion that we still remember to this day, thanks to a nursery rhyme and Henry Ford.

4. Religious Beliefs

“Somewhere is a Master Mind sending brain wave messages to us. There is a Great Spirit. I never did anything by my own volition. I was pushed by invisible forces within and without me.” Henry Ford said when was asked about his religious beliefs in an interview with Detroit Times. Ford was raised Episcopalian on a farm outside Detroit, but also came to believe in the idea of reincarnation.

5. Ford Aircraft Division

During the first World War, Henry Ford wanted to help the war effort, so he began manufacture of Packard designed Liberty aircraft engines. In cooperation with the Stout Metal Airplane Company, which Ford eventually owned, one of the first successful commercial passenger planes was created in 1926; the Ford Tri-Motor. The Ford Flivver in the picture was Henry's attempt to create a plane for the common man, a Model T of the air, but was described by Charles Lindberg as the worst plane he ever flew, and never made it past the prototype stage. The Ford Airplane division closed in 1933, because the sales had fallen off, however, the U.S. Centennial of Fight Commission recognized Henry Ford as a lead in the aircraft industry in 2002.

6. Many Patents

Aside from being the genius he was in the automotive industry, Henry Ford was an inventor and an innovator down to his core. He continued to invent things even after the success of the Ford Motor Company, as he truly believed that he could have a huge impact on the world. Henry Ford has 161 patents of various things he invented. Some of these include a mechanism for adjusting hospital beds, airplanes, manufacturing methods, a method of making plastics, and dozens of automotive related devices.

7. Edison Illuminating Company

Henry Ford started working for Edison Illuminating in 1891, 5 years before he made his Quadricycle, as he had always been inspired by Edison. After only after two years, in 1893, Ford was promoted to Chief Engineer, all while working on his own projects and experiments at home. Henry made a good salary working there, which allowed him to invest in inventing things and working on automobile engines. In 1896 Henry Ford completed his first vehicle, and met Thomas Edison, who encouraged his efforts.

8. Henry Ford the Boss

Henry Ford believed that his workers were tremendously valuable, and to allow them to be productive and creative, he believed that he needed to keep them happy. Ford was paying his employees double what most competitors paid theirs, and the generous salaries attracted the master-minds of the automotive industry and the best craftspeople for the factories, which helped the company to become extremely successful.

9. Henry Ford the Farmer

Henry Ford was born and raised on a farm, but was never known to be a farmer; only to help his mother. After the death of his mother in 1876, Henry's father tried to convince him to take control of the farm, but Henry refused, saying "I never had any particular love for the farm—it was the mother on the farm I loved." However, he did later create the Fordson tractors, one of the first affordable, reliable farm implements.

10. Fordlandia

Henry Ford's innovative mind and desire to bend the world to his will made him try to build an entire city in the middle of the Brazilian Amazon. He wanted to build this city, which he named Fordlandia, to supply the world with rubber, including the tires for his cars. The city was founded in 1928 and intended to have 10,000 residents, but the concept failed, and the city remains nearly vacant to this very day.